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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20090212 APPROVED 4/7/2009 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION February 12, 2009 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Tuesday, February 12, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Link Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie Foushee and Commissioners Alice M. Gordon, Pam Hemminger, Barry Jacobs, Mike Nelson, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Staff Attorney Annette Moore COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and Willie Best, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. County Commissioners: Boards and Commissions Assignments A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to add this item. VOTE: UNANIMOUS The veteran County Commissioners have already chosen two boards that they would each like to retain. Boards and Commissions— item from 2/10/09 meeting: Adult Care Home Commissioner Community Foushee Advisory Committee (L) 1 (meets quarterly/2:OOpm) Advisory Board on Commissioner Aging (L) Gordon 2 Commissioner (meets on 2nd Yuhasz Wed/monthly—at 2:00pm) Affordable Housing Commissioner Advisory Board (L) Foushee 2 (meets monthly-2nd Tuesday/6:OOpm) Agricultural Commissioner Preservation Board Pelissier (L) 1 (Meets monthly/3rd Wed/7:30pm) Alcoholic Beverage Commissioner Control Board (L) Hemminger (non-voting) 1 (Meets monthly on 3rd Tuesday/8:30am) Animal Services Commissioner Advisory Board (M) Nelson 1 Meets monthly/3rd Wed/6:30pm Arts Commission (L) Commissioner 1 Nelson (Meets monthly/2"d Monday-6:OOpm) Board of Health (M) Commissioner 1 Yuhasz (meets monthly/4th Wed//7:00pm) Chapel Hill/Orange Commissioner County Visitor's Jacobs Bureau (M) 1 (meets monthly/3rd Wed/8:00am) Board/Commission Chatham/Orange Commissioner Joint Planning Task Pelissier Force (2) Commissioner Gordon Commission for the Commissioner Environment (L) Gordon 2 Meets monthly/2"d Monday/7:30pm Commission for Commissioner Women (L) Nelson 1 Meets monthly/2"d Thursday/6:30pm) Communities in Commissioner Schools (M) Foushee 1 Durham-Chapel Hill Commissioner Carrboro Gordon —Member Transportation Advisory Committee Alternate - open (M and Alt) 2 (meets monthly/2"d Wed./9:OOam) Durham-Chapel Hill- Commissioner Orange Work Group Jacobs (M) Commissioner 2 Gordon Meets quarterly at noon—location varies Economic Commissioner Development Nelson Commission (L) Commissioner 2 Jacobs Meets monthly/2nd Thursday/5:30 pm Equalization and Commissioner Review Board Yuhasz (April-June)(M) 1 As needed Fire Chiefs' Commissioner Association of Yuhasz Orange County (M) Commissioner 2 Jacobs (every other month- rotates fire stations/7:OOpm) Healthy Carolinians Commissioner (M) 1 Yuhasz Meets monthly/3`d Thursday/8:30am Board/Commission HOME Program Commissioner Review Committee Foushee (M) 1 (meets as needed) Housing Bond Commissioner Program — Project Foushee Review and Selection Committee (M) 1 ( as needed) Human Relations OPEN Commission (L) 1 Meets monthly/2nd Monday/6:30pm) Human Services Commissioner Advisory Pelissier Commission (L) 1 Meets monthly/3rd Monday/5:30pm Information Commissioner Technology Yuhasz Advisory Committee (L) 1 (meets monthly/4th Wed/5:30pm) Intergovernmental Commissioner Parks Work Group Gordon (M) Commissioner 2 Hemminger (meets quarterly/4th Wed./5;15pm) International Council Commissioner for Local Jacobs Environmental Initiatives (M) 1 Joint Orange Commissioner Chatham Foushee Community Action Agency (M) 1 Board/Commission Legislative Issues Commissioner Work Group Foushee 2 Commissioner ( meets as needed) Jacobs NCDOT Quarterly Commissioner Meetings (M) Foushee 2 Commissioner ( lunch meeting) Nelson OPC Area Board Commissioner (M) Pelissier 1 (monthly/4thThursday/ 7:00pm) Orange Community Commissioner Housing and Land Hemminger Trust Board of Directors (M) 1 (meets monthly/2"d Wed/6:OOpm) Orange County Commissioner Partnership for Pelissier Young Children (M) 1 (meets last Wed of month-8:30am- 10:00am) Orange Unified Commissioner Transportation Gordon Board (L) Commissioner 2 Pelissier (meets monthly/3rd Wed/7:OOpm) Orange/Chatham Commissioner Justice Leadership Foushee Council (M) 1 (as needed) Board/Commission Recreation and Commissioner Parks Advisory Hemminger Council (M) 1 (meets monthly/1st Wed/6:15pm) Research Triangle Commissioner Regional Jacobs Partnership (M) 1 Rural Planning Commissioner Organization — Pelissier-Member Transportation Advisory Committee Alternate - Open (M and alt) 2 (quarterly- Thu rsday/12:00pm/in Siler City) Solid Waste Commissioner Advisory Board (L) Yuhasz 1 (monthly/1St Thursday/ 7:00pm) Social Services Commissioner Board Foushee ( meets monthly/3rd Monday/4:OOpm) Sportsplex Commissioner Community Jacobs Advisory Committee (L) 1 (meets quarterly—time varies but usually late afternoon) Transportation Commissioner Services Board (M) Pelissier 1 ( meets bi- monthly/2:00pm) Triangle J Council of Commissioner Governments (M Jacobs -member and Alt) Commissioner 2 Hemminger— (meets monthly/4 th alternate Wed/6:00pm Triangle Transit— Commissioner Board of Trustees Gordon (M) 1 (meets 2x monthly/4th Wed/1:OOpm and first week of month— daytime) Upper Neuse River Commissioner Basin Association Hemminger (M) 1 ( quarterly/noon) Commissioner Workforce Hemminger Development Board — Regional Partnership (M) 1 (quarterly/)day meeting —around lunchtime SHORT TERM TASK FORCES Air Quality Advisory Committee (M) Commissioner Gordon Efland-Mebane SAP Implementation Focus Group Commissioner Jacobs (M) Eno EDD Small Area Plan Taskforce (M) Commissioner Foushee First School Planning Work Group (M) Commissioner Foushee Hillsborough Joint Planning Strategic Growth Commissioner Jacobs Committee (M)- Interlocal Agreement Committee for the Commissioner Jacobs Hillsborough area-Orange County Strategic Growth Plan — Phase 2 Hollow Rock Park Planning Taskforce (M) Commissioner Jacobs Commissioner Gordon (alt) IFC Comprehensive Service Center Commissioner Foushee Work Group (M) IFC Men's Residential Facility Work Group (M) Commissioner Gordon Library Services Taskforce (M) Commissioner Jacobs 2 Commissioner Nelson New Hope Park at Blackwood Farm Master Commissioner Gordon Planning Taskforce (M) Commissioner Jacobs Rogers Road Small Area Plan Task Force (M) 2 Commissioner Foushee School-based Health Center Planning Group Commissioner Foushee Solid Waste Management Work Group (M) Commissioner Jacobs Triangle Transit—Special tax Board (M) OPEN —2 members serve Ten (10) Year Plan to End Homelessness Executive Commissioner Pelissier Team Transfer of Development Rights Taskforce (M) Commissioner Jacobs Twin Creeks Workgroup (M) ( 2 serve) Commissioner Gordon Ex-Officio (off limits) Community Leadership Council (M) Chair Serves Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce (L) Chair Serves BOARDS THAT BOCC HAS ALREADY MADE APPOINTMENTS TO NACo/NCACC Voting Delegate (M) Commissioner Foushee NCACC County Legislative Liaison (M) Commissioner Hemminger Durham Technical Community College (M) Commissioner Foushee 1 NON — COUNTY Boards where BOCC members are officers- (off limits) Triangle J Council of Governments (M) Commissioner Jacobs-Chair—Member (Chair) 2 (meets monthly/4t"Wed/6:OOpm Boards without a BOCC seat Historic Preservation Commission Hyconeechee Regional Library Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee Orange County Board of Adjustment Orange County Planning Board Personnel Hearing Board Donna Baker will send the information back to the County Commissioners next week. 1. Current Year Fiscal Update The Board received an update from staff regarding the County's current FY 2008-09 fiscal status. Laura Blackmon said that revenues are on target for now because the real property taxes are on target and tax collection has been at 98%. Regarding motor vehicle taxes, this is on target, but there has been a slow down in the purchase of cars. The sales tax is on target. Donna Coffey said that the County is just now seeing the impact of the State withholding the Article 39 funds. Commissioner Jacobs asked to have a report on the revaluation at the beginning of a regular meeting just to update the public on how it is working. Commissioner Nelson said that there was a similar discussion in the Chair and Vice- Chair meeting about this and it was preferable to do an op-Ed piece in the paper instead of having a presentation, since many people do not have digital cable and cannot watch the meeting. Laura Blackmon said that Tax Assessor John Smith did do a presentation at the Chapel Hill Town Council last week. Commissioner Gordon said that it is important to realize that after revaluation a revenue neutral tax rate is given. Taxes do not automatically go up. She said that Chatham County had a series of meetings where staff went out to communities to talk about the revaluation. She said that this kind of outreach would be good in Orange County. Commissioner Jacobs agreed and said that this should be taken on the road. Laura Blackmon said that staff has been going to homeowner's groups to make this presentation. Commissioner Jacobs would like to know what the public is asking the staff. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to ask staff to do community listening sessions, or something of that nature, in conjunction with the op-Ed pieces. Staff will bring back a proposal to the Board indicating when and where the sessions would be held. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Land transfer and construction related revenues: Laura Blackmon reviewed the information for this item. There have been some declines in the constructed-related revenues. The following are staff directives related to the budget: • Continuing the County's 3-month hiring delay • Reserving 2% of budgeted operating expenditures • Postponing vehicle and equipment purchases • Delaying other capital expenditures • No out-of-state travel • Postponing other travel as possible • Reducing fuel consumption by at least 10% 2. FY 2009-10 Budget Activity to Date Laura Blackmon said that the plan for next year is very little or no growth in the revenue base because of the revenue neutral stance the County is taking. Donna Coffey said that last year the County balanced the budget by appropriating $2 million from fund balance and by postponing some County capital projects. The total of that was about$3.3 million, so the starting point this year will be $3.3 million less in revenue than last year. Laura Blackmon said that the departments are working on budgets and they will be reviewing these submittals in the next few weeks. County Manager FY 2009-10 Budget Preparation Directions to Departments: - The County Manager has directed departments to submit FY 2009-10 budget requests reflecting a budget reduction of 10%. The dollar amount of the decrease is equivalent to 10% of the sum of the department's overtime, non-permanent (i.e. temporary) and operations line items. - In order to meet the 10% reduction target, the Manager expects department directors to look holistically at their department and propose reductions in, and in some instances elimination of, non-mandated services and activities. - As the first option, the Manager has directed departments to absorb costs associated with opening new facilities within their budget proposal for FY 2009-10. This will likely mean substantial changes in current service delivery. - For each service reduction and elimination, department directors must submit a Service Reduction Impact Statement. The Manager plans to share these statements with Commissioners during budget work sessions in March 2009. - The Manager has also directed departments not to submit requests for capital items in FY 2009-10. Commissioner Yuhasz verified with Laura Blackmon that department heads are looking to cut programs permanently. Laura Blackmon said that she told staff to look out five years. Commissioner Nelson asked at what point in the process the County Commissioners get to ask questions about these mandated services. Donna Coffey said that there is a work session March 51h and March 24th and the staff will be bringing back the impact statements for the service reductions. Commissioner Nelson said that he wanted to make sure that there is a place in the process that the Board of County Commissioners is not just reacting to impact statements from the staff. Laura Blackmon said that this is designed for all to have more discussion. In answer to a question from Commissioner Pelissier, Donna Coffey said that dollar amounts will also be attached to the impact statements. Commissioner Jacobs asked about eliminating programs that might eliminate people. He wants to signify that there are people involved. Laura Blackmon said that they have discussed the difficulties and the human element is a part of the consideration. Her goal is to meet the public service needs with the least impact on the workforce. Commissioner Gordon said that the staff should be as specific as possible concerning what the priorities are and what is proposed to be cut. She suggested giving performance measures. Donna Coffey agreed and said that there will be a matrix coming back in March, which can also be used in the future. The cuts being discussed are permanent in nature. Commissioner Gordon said that she read about the UNC furlough programs and she asked if the County has the authority to do this if the budget shortfall becomes significantly worse. Staff did not know the answer to this question. Donna Coffey said that there are a lot of governments going to a four-day work week. If the County did this, it would not save a lot because the County provides core services and it has to be open five days a week. She said that the Board could consider a rolling four-day work week. 3. BOCC FY 2009-10 Budget Decisions and Guidance Donna Coffey made reference to Attachment 3 (goldenrod sheets). With the way that the debt is structured with what the Board approved on February 3rd there will be no impact on next year's budget for debt. 1. Tax Rate— Increase or no increase in revenue neutral rate Chair Foushee said that she is supporting no increase in the revenue neutral rate and the Board agreed by consensus. 2. Debt Service— Plan issuance of debt to minimize fiscal impact on FY 2009-10 by postponing issuance for Office/Library and CHCCS Elementary#11 until July 2009. Donna Coffey said that the increase from this debt will be seen in 2010-11. Commissioner Nelson said that this would be forcing a tax increase the following year, and he would rather be up front. He does not want to back into that decision. He wants to be transparent. Donna Coffey said that the public can be made aware of things that are on the horizon. Increase in debt service in 2010-11 could be as much as $3.3 million. Laura Blackmon said that there may be some stimulus money and it will also take a couple of years to transition out of some County programs. Commissioner Jacobs said that the whole issue of school funding is a perfect example of how fluid this situation really is. Commissioner Gordon asked if the CHCCS Elementary#11 debt could be issued in January 2010. Donna Coffey said that if the County's debt management policy says the debt cannot be more than 15% of the general fund, then there is a possibility that if the budget remains the same or lower, the debt service may be more than 15%. She said that staff has talked to the LGC about this, and as long as this is only a blip it would be alright. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he has trouble with issuing debt for something the County may not be able to build. Chair Foushee agreed. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board needs to discuss SAPFO and extraordinary circumstances and extraordinary adjustments. Chair Foushee agreed and said that this should be discussed before making any decisions. 3. Appropriation Mandated, Funding Discretionary—Local School Districts-Current Expense Funding 4. Appropriation Mandated, Funding Discretionary—Local School Districts- Recurring Capital Funding Laura Blackmon said that she meets with the Superintendents and the school collaboration group frequently and they all recognize the crisis the County is in. The schools are looking at their budgets as well and where cuts might be made. Superintendent Neil Pedersen said that CHCCS received the State's projections and they were lower than the school system's projections because of the change in the entrance age for kindergarten. There was a difference in projections of 120 students. Commissioner Jacobs asked for information from OCS and George McFarley said that the expectation is from 30-50 additional students. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the issue of making a choice of increasing per pupil funding or maintaining the recurring capital funding, which was a topic of discussion when this was on the agenda previously. He would be interested in getting a sense from the school boards on the higher priority. This needs to be proposed in some formal way for future discussion. Donna Coffey said that if the recurring capital money is used, it is a one-time fix. On the lottery proceeds, that is a finite piece of money and is being used now for school capital projects. The Board decided to defer a decision on this until there is more information and the school boards have a chance to discuss how the decision impacts the schools' budgets. Commissioner Pellisier said that it would be good for the two school boards to discuss this and talk about the priorities. Commissioner Yuhasz said that the schools should also be asked to look at a five-year window, just like the County department heads. A letter will be sent to both school boards from staff indicating that a discussion should take place on these issues. 5. Appropriation Not Mandated, Funding Discretionary— Fair Funding for Schools Laura Blackmon said that the Fair Funding for School Health and Safety Resources for FY 2008-09 is the equivalent of .77 cents on the FY 2008-09 ad valorem tax rate. Donna Coffey said that there is a separate line item in the Health Department budget that holds the schools harmless with one nurse per school. This is separate from the $988,000. Commissioner Hemminger said that social workers, nurses, and SRO's need to be kept in place in schools and the Board agreed. 6. Appropriation Not Mandated, Contributions to Non-Profit Funding Discretionary Commissioner Nelson said that he does not think that this should be reduced. Commissioner Pelissier agreed because most of the contributions that the County makes towards this, she would categorize in the safety net category. Commissioner Gordon said that it would depend on how bad the budget situation gets. She said that if the County is getting to the point of reducing its employees and an agency is not providing the service in a cost-effective way, then she would like to consider bringing the service in-house. Commissioner Jacobs thanked staff for the detailed analysis of outside agencies and he agreed with the other two County Commissioners but also agrees with Commissioner Gordon. Donna Coffey said that staff has told outside agencies to be on the alert. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey explained the application process for outside agency funds. She reiterated that the outside agencies have been warned about the cuts. Laura Blackmon asked the Board what amount of money it was planning on giving to non-profits—the same as last year or lower. Commissioner Gordon said that she does not want to give the impression that any of the cuts will be put back. She said that she does not remember the Commissioners continuing the Human Services Advisory Commission process whereby the HSAC made allocation recommendations to the County Commissioners. She thought that staff was going to be doing this. Gwen Harvey said that the Human Services Advisory Committee has historically been used and in 2008-09 the Board of County Commissioners explicitly empowered the HSAC to review the applications and make some dollar assignments. In September, the Board said that it was alright for HSAC to continue to use its evaluation tool to examine performance but not to set the dollar allocation. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Nelson and Commissioner Pelissier that the Board should send a message that the allocation will stay the same as before. He said that he remembers deciding that the advisory boards would not make financial decisions. He said that he would like the HSAC to do the analysis and flag things of concern, with no fiscal distribution. Chair Foushee said that the fact that there is an application process allows for the possibility of a non-profit that has not applied before to apply. She does not want this process to exclude those agencies that might not have applied before. The Board agreed that the total amount would stay the same and not necessarily the allocations. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he would want recommendations for fiscal amounts from someone. Commissioner Nelson said that he wants to stick with the dollar amount for this group. Regarding the issue of which non-profits get the funds, he thinks that this discussion will need to come later. He said that he wants the new groups to be considered as well as long as it is a safety net service. Commissioner Pelissier said that she would like to send out a general message that the priority is for the safety net organizations. Chair Foushee clarified that there was consensus on the dollar amount and the message. 7. Appropriation Not Mandated, Funding Discretionary- Contributions to Towns for Library and Recreation Services Donna Coffey asked if the Board wanted to continue this. The library contribution is only to Chapel Hill ($250,000) and the contribution to recreation services is to all Towns ($125,000). Commissioner Gordon said that it would be counterproductive to cut these funds. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board has talked about engaging in conversations with the towns about library services. He suggested continuing with what is being done, but express an interest in having conversations. The Board agreed. 8. Funding Discretionary—Employee Compensation Laura Blackmon said that no local governments are giving COLA or merit raises next year. She said that she is not going to recommend any increases or any of this for Orange County. Also, the Archer compensation study will not be implemented. Chair Foushee said that the County's priority is to preserve and protect jobs. Laura Blackmon will be sending information out to each employee. This was covered in Attachment 4. Willie Best said that the issue of the value-added processing center is going to be resubmitted to Congressman Price's office. There is also a business incubator project that the County applied for last year. In terms of broadband, this will come through the federal process and not the state. There was also a list of potential projects from CHCCS. Laura Blackmon said that this is on the agenda for next week for the Board to approve the list. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to IT and said that there is not a plan for broadband. He would like to focus on the economic development districts, but there has to be a plan. There also needs to be a plan for cable. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to putting in telecommunication towers and said that he heard that the technology is becoming outmoded. He would like to find out about this before going this route. Chair Foushee asked if there were any questions on the budget process. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to take each budget work session and let the Board know ahead of time what is on each work session. She would also like a timeline of the process and dates. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Gordon. Discussion ensued on the CIP process. Commissioner Hemminger said that she would like to have a spreadsheet on capital projects and funding. Commissioner Gordon asked that the Board get to see the agendas ahead of time and the materials that are needed. A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to adjourn the meeting at 10:12 pm. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Valerie Foushee, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board